


Seeds of Fear

by skinscript (Infie)



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-08 22:19:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1138063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infie/pseuds/skinscript
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney impressed upon John how unimpressed he is with the events of The Seed</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeds of Fear

It took John three days to realise that Rodney was avoiding him. 

Since he spent all three of those days in the infirmary (as well as the next six) recovering from being impaled by a *vine* of all things, it was perhaps understandable that it took him a while to notice. Then, he actually found it a little restful for a bit. 

But apparently, Rodney was just waiting for him to regain enough strength from surviving his botanical evisceration to be able to handle the verbal one. 

"So, what, now? Your fucking death wish is back? Well, I gotta tell you Colonel, I'm on the edge of killing you myself with the *sheer power of my rage*." Rodney backed him up against the edge of his bed, placed both hands on his chest, and *shoved*. 

Jesus, Rodney was strong. 

John sat down a lot more abruptly than he would have liked, staring up at Rodney with a combination of surprised and pissed. After a moment, pissed won. 

"I don't have a death wish," he shot back coldly. "But evidently *you* do." 

"Ha!" Rodney didn't give an inch, just stood over him with fists clenched and arms crossed. He looked like he was holding back his desire to do physical damage by the very tips of his fingernails. 

"Rodney," John shook his head and pushed to his feet, knocking Rodney back a step with the pressure of his body. "I don't know what brought this on, but seriously, you need to knock it off right now." 

Rodney choked. "Don't know what brought this *on*? How about your imbecilic desire to ram a jumper through the side of a building, into a wraith-bio-infested *room*, all alone?" 

"Look, it was the only way to help Keller and you know it," John began evenly. 

"There were other ways. But you were too busy racing off to play sacrificial hero to hear any of them, weren't you? Oh, oh! And I loved you taking off while I was locked in my quarters under fucking Marine guard, by the way. Especially the little 'keep him here' on the way out the door. That was just *great*." 

John's chin lifted defensively in a gesture he recognized but was helpless to stop. "My call, Rodney." 

Rodney stared at him with betrayal and fury turning his eyes an even darker blue than normal, scanning his face searchingly. Suddenly, incongrously, his face softened. "You think I don't know what this is really about?" he asked gently. John stepped back rapidly, more unnerved by Rodney's kindness and understanding than he had ever been by his anger. He forgot about the bed right behind him, tripped, and ended up sitting down hard. Again. Rodney moved to stand directly in front of him, preventing him from getting back up. 

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he ground out, escape thwarted. 

"No idea." Rodney glared at him through narrowed lids. "What happened in the future, John? What did you learn about what happened to us?" 

John compressed his lips and seriously considered drawing his sidearm to back Rodney up. "You were at the debriefing. You already know." 

"I don't think you told us nearly as much as you know. Pretty much just that you knew where Teyla was, and that I'd left you a message and told you how to get back. I'll bet there's a lot more to the story." His blue eyes were sharp, gauging the effect of his words. "Forty eight thousand years. Atlantis deserted. And all of us, dead." 

John winced. Rodney nodded, those damned sharp eyes seeing too goddamned much. 

"All dead. And not a damned thing you could do about it. It happened when you weren't even looking, while you were incapacitated." Rodney's lips pulled back from his teeth in something that could never be considered a smile. "You blinked, and we were gone." 

"So what?" John bit back a surge of nausea at Rodney's words. It was just part of recovering from his wounds, that was all. He felt himself pale, decided to go with anger. "You're all alive now." 

"Ah, yes," Rodney stepped back and nodded wisely at him. "But, for how long?" 

"What?" 

"We're in a dangerous place. We put ourselves in dangerous situations all the time." He crossed his arms. "Probably better if you just take all the risks for us, right? Won't we be safer then?" His face was turning red. 

"You're insane." The nausea had changed to outright pain, and John fought the desire to curl around his stomach, just a little. 

"If I am, you drove me there." Rodney spun on his heel and headed for the door. "Sadly, you're right. It *is* your call. I can't stop you from being _stupid_ , but I know what you're doing. I'm going to do everything I can to stop you from actually managing to get yourself killed trying to keep all the risks for yourself." 

The door closed behind him. 

John stood up, walked over to his desk, very deliberately picked up his coffee mug... and threw it against the wall. It exploded into tiny splinters, one flying back and nicking the skin over his cheekbone, the rest puffing out in a cloud of dust and a rattle of debris. His breath rasped in his chest, and John shook with the effort of restraining the rest of the violence coursing through him. 

"Yeah, well," he gritted out. "You can try." 

-30-


End file.
